Chapter 1021 Brothers, keep attacking!
Last night, after returning from the Allianz Arena adaptation training, Guardiola had dinner with the team. He specially gave the players two hours off to allow them to move freely and visit their relatives and friends.
They are all in the same hotel, just a short walk away.
Su Dong went to visit old friends such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi and Iniesta. When a group of people got together, they naturally talked about the upcoming final, and they also shared their experiences on how to play against Chelsea.
But football is a thing that changes over time, and every game is completely different.
Especially in the Champions League.
For example, Drogba. The Ivorian last season is very different from the Drogba this season.
There is also Terry. This season he was involved in a scandal, which affected his form. Although he returned later, who knows how much he can play in the Champions League final? At least when playing against Bayern Munich, he played very bravely. If it weren't for him and Cahill forming a central defender, Chelsea would not have been able to escape unscathed from Bayern Munich's fierce attack.
After talking about football for a while, we started talking about Su Dong's wedding.
The small islands in the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East have been fully arranged and are now undergoing final improvements.
Mansour was very supportive. He even built a lot of facilities on the island for the wedding, including roads, green plants, lawns, etc., and invested a lot.
Of course, according to them, these are not one-time investments, but they want to make a name for themselves through Su Dong’s wedding and turn this small island into a wedding destination in the future. Then newlyweds from all over the world who want to get married will want to hold their weddings here.
For Su Dong, he can't take care of the future. He can only thank Mansour for his efforts. At the same time, he will do his best to help Manchester City win the championship. This is his way of repaying Mansour.
The future father-in-law is the head of a large state-owned enterprise and is very busy on weekdays, so the wedding is basically prepared by Su Dong's parents and future mother-in-law. Although there are contractors, there are still many family customs and preparations.
For example, Su Wenjie is going to hold a banquet in his hometown to entertain his relatives and friends.
The same is true for the Wang family.
Su Dong and Wang Chuqing both disliked the hustle and bustle and trouble, but since the older generation had such a wish, they naturally had to respect it.
According to the plan, they will hold their wedding in the Middle East, then start a honeymoon trip for half a month, return to the country to attend two banquets, and then Su Dong will return to Europe to prepare for the new season, and by then he will inevitably have to entertain his teammates from the club.
In the past, Su Dong rarely thought about these issues and ignored them, but since he came to Manchester City and became captain, he considers problems more comprehensively and is no longer self-contained as before.
As Beckenbauer said when they met, Su Dong is now more mature and stable.
…
Halfway through the gathering with old friends, Wang Chuqing brought her parents and future father-in-law and mother-in-law, a group of five people, to the hotel.
Although they lived in Su Dong's villa, they had heard that Su Dong had time, so of course they had to rush over to meet him before the game. But on the day of the game, every second counted, so how could they have time to meet?
When we meet, naturally there is a lot of nagging.
They were basically Su Dong's parents, and they just "reported" on the progress of the wedding preparations, and "showed off" about how many houses they had bought recently, as well as some things that happened at home in the country.
In fact, no matter whether it is in his hometown or in China, as long as something happens, Su Dong will make donations in the country through his parents.
For example, the community where Su Dong grew up said it wanted to raise funds to build a nursing home, but the government only allocated a portion of the funds, and the rest had to be raised by himself.
When Su Wenjie called Su Dong, Su Dong did not say a word and directly entrusted the responsibility to his father.
Su Wenjie is also a capable person. He neither tried to steal the limelight nor put on airs. He contacted the neighborhood committee privately and asked them to raise the money first. The elderly in the community would not have to do so, and no matter how big the remaining gap was, it would all be covered by the Su family. In name, it was still a crowdfunding project for the community, and the neighbors felt comfortable with it.
The whole thing was handled beautifully and everyone was happy in the end.
Every time he sees his parents, Su Dong feels a little guilty.
The older generation said that as parents, they all hope that their children will be successful, but they don’t want them to be too successful.
Su Dong didn’t understand this kind of contradictory feeling before, but now he really understands it.
However, as the conversation went on, the topic unknowingly shifted to the issue of having children again.
This is the most common topic between Mr. and Mrs. Su Wenjie and Mr. and Mrs. Wang Qingquan, and it is also what they like to talk about most in front of Mr. and Mrs. Su Dong.
Even a few years ago, they had been encouraging Su Dong and Mr. Wang Chuqing to have children. Su Dong's parents and future mother-in-law said that if they had children, they would retire early and take care of the children full-time.
As a result, several years passed and there was still no birth.
Or I am too greedy for the world of two people! …………
…………
Nothing happened that night. The next morning, Manchester City held a pre-match tactical meeting in the hotel's conference room to discuss the Champions League final. Guardiola and the coaching staff explained their ideas to all the players and also listened to their opinions.
As the captain of the team, and especially the most important player of the team, Su Dong's role in the team has become more and more obvious. He has more and more say in such meetings. Many times, Guardiola would even specifically call on Su Dong to express his opinions.
Whether in public or in private, Su Dong and Guardiola are giving each other more respect and trust.
For Chelsea, Guardiola certainly hopes that the team can control the ball as much as possible, and finally overwhelm the opponent until Chelsea's goal is broken. However, Su Dong believes that it can be seen from Chelsea's game against Bayern that Chelsea is very good at playing such tactics.
"They are used to being pressed by their opponents, which helps them defend, so the two rounds of the game against Bayern were very ugly, but Chelsea advanced to the final, not only because Bayern lacked the ability to break through at critical moments, but also because of Chelsea's tenacity and toughness."
"There is no doubt that Chelsea will still take a defensive stance in this game, but I personally think that if we firmly control the ball, just like Bayern did, and press Chelsea into the half court, will it cause Chelsea's entire formation to become very compact and tight, and our offense will find it difficult to get space?"
Su Dong's words not only made the players present fall into deep thought, but even Guardiola and the coaching staff also looked thoughtful.
Many people think that Su Dong is just a player, or the captain of the team, but in fact, he is a player who is very good at thinking, which makes him have a very good sense of the overall situation on the court. He also runs very cunningly, which gives his opponents a headache.
At the same time, he is also a master of strategy.
After Su Dong made this point, many of his teammates felt that Chelsea might even welcome Manchester City to adopt such tactics.
High-pressure pressing, forward defense, and firm control of the ball allow Chelsea to naturally tighten the three lines. Everyone's thoughts are very unified and the goals are consistent. This is Chelsea's favorite way of playing.
Because they only have one way, and that is to defend strictly and counterattack.
"So what do you mean?" Guardiola asked with a frown.
He was not dissatisfied with Su Dong's opinion, nor did he think that Su Dong's opinion was an infringement of his authority. His tone sounded more like he was discussing and exchanging opinions with Su Dong.
Other Manchester City players are also accustomed to their way of communication.
The frown means Guardiola is thinking.
"I think we should give Chelsea more options." Su Dong said with a smile.
"Huh?" Guardiola didn't quite understand.
"To put it simply, we withdraw the ball possession area a little, reduce the investment in pressing and pressing in the midfield, and give Chelsea more opportunities to get the ball in the midfield. In this way, our ball possession rate will be less, but the question is, what will Chelsea do after getting the ball in the midfield?"
Everyone suddenly understood.
Who says it’s not true? When Chelsea players get the ball, they will think it’s a hot potato, kick it back to Manchester City, and then wave, “Brother, keep attacking!” Impossible?
After getting the ball, especially after stabilizing the ball in the midfield and backcourt, they will definitely want to attack. At this time, can the players still maintain a unified mentality? Can they still unite and concentrate on defending?
For Manchester City, it is not difficult to gain more ball possession in the match against Chelsea. There is even a high probability of over 70% possession. But the problem is, if they have more ball possession and Chelsea focus on tight defense, how can the team's offense be launched?
Su Dong's idea is to reduce some ball possession, give Chelsea more space, and let them have more different ideas, so that they will no longer unite to defend tightly. They will have disagreements, and with disagreements there will be mistakes, and with mistakes, Manchester City will have more opportunities.
Torrent and Estiat looked at each other and both felt that there was nothing wrong with Su Dong's idea from a strategic perspective. It could even be said to be very clever, taking advantage of Chelsea's mind and the complexity of human nature, and forcibly creating some opportunities even if there were no opportunities.
But the problem is that Manchester City's head coach also has very complicated thoughts. Guardiola, nicknamed Mr. Tangled, has an unusual obsession with ball possession. Will he be willing to transfer part of the ball possession to Chelsea?
Of course, Su Dong’s proposal is not completely risk-free.
Once, as Su Dong said, the pressing and oppression in the front court is reduced, since Manchester City players are very flexible in their movement and are often not in position, it is bound to lead to the team losing the ball. When the opponent switches from defense to offense, Manchester City's defense will be very vulnerable. At this time, it has to rely entirely on the players' on-the-spot performance to solve the problem.
This can be said to go against Guardiola's philosophy.
That's the fun thing about football.
On the football field, there is never any such thing as advantage or no harm; there are only trade-offs and decisions.
Offense and defense, technique and strength, ball possession and space...
Nothing is invincible!
(End of this chapter)
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